Pete Domenici, left, takes a moment to greet former U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar on Wednesday immediately after he spoke during the Pete Domenici Public Policy Conference at the Las Cruces Convention Center.

LAS CRUCES >> American energy security is at a "good place," former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said Wednesday at the Domenici Public Policy Conference.

Oil production is at a 10-year-high, natural gas is at an all-time high and the Gulf of Mexico is the fastest-growing off-shore market in the entire world, Salazar said at the annual New Mexico State University conference. The United States is also well on its way to surpassing Saudi Arabia in the as the largest oil producer in the world, he said.

The country has also moved from importing 60 percent of oil in the mid-2000s to 40 percent, he said.

"We are at a good place," Salazar said. "Let's celebrate because we are at a good place today, 2013."

The Domenici Public Policy conference, held at the convention center, is named for former U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the state's longest serving senator.

It examines current public policy issues, from energy to health care reform to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Energy advancements

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Technology, legislation and federal agencies that implement that legislation and technology are behind the improvements, said the former secretary, who resigned in April after more than four years under President Barack Obama.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing are two technological innovations that have helped improve US energy efficiency and security, he said.

"(Hydraulic fracturing) is creating an energy revolution in the United States alone," Salazar said.

He recognized the concerns many environmentalists have with the process, often called fracking, that pumps high-pressured water into holes drilled in the ground to extract gas and oil. Environmentalists are concerned the process contaminates water and air quality, along with other environmental impacts.

"I would say to everybody that hydraulic fracking is safe," Salazar said.

There is a reasonable expectation, however, to ensure openness and accountability so the public is comfortable with the process, he said.

Water remains a challenge for fracking, Salazar said, noting many companies are recycling water for fracking.

"It takes a significant amount of water to exercise fracking," Salazar said.

Oil and gas are a part of the U.S. energy industry, he said. "But we also do things with renewable energy that no one thought we could do."

Legislation has also helped spur the "energy revolution," Salazar said, mentioning bills Domenici and former Sen. Jeff Bingaman helped pass in the mid-2000s, including the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act that opened the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling and the 2005 Energy Policy Act.

"We have come so far from ... '05," Salazar said.

One student from Eastern New Mexico University asked the former secretary if solar energy would be like the cell phone, starting out bulky and expensive and eventually becoming cheaper and easier to navigate.

There is too much stopping and starting of solar incentives for it to be exactly like cell phones, Salazar said, noting there are significant improvements being made.

"We're making believers out of skeptics," he said. "... As the efficiency and cost is driven down of other solar technologies, solar energy does in fact have a bright future."

There are many energy challenges that remain, including climate change legislation, communities dependent on gas or coal production and endangered animals, he said.

"I don't expect that there will be legislation that will deal with climate change from Washington, D.C., and Congress," Salazar said.

But businesses are already implementing best practices to limit emissions that harm the environment, he said.

The nation must come together to effectively address energy security regardless of political affiliation, he said.

"The concept of red states and blue states real has no meaning at the end of the day in terms of United States energy security," Salazar said.

Thursday's events

The two-day conference is in its sixth year and is hosted by NMSU's Domenici Institute, which aims to continue Domenici's legacy of service. About 800 attendees were registered for the two-day event, including nearly 40 percent students, who attend the conference for free.

Thursday's speakers include Gov. Susana Martinez, former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist, White Sands Missile Range Brig. Gen. Gwen Bingham and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton.

Wednesday also featured speeches by Joshua Cooper Ramo, vice chairman of Kissinger Associates Inc. and former foreign editor of TIME magazine; Guy Caruso, former administrator in the U.S. Energy Information Administration; Marianne Walck, director of the Geoscience, Climate and Consequence Effects Center at Sandia National Laboratories; Norm Warpinski, a technology fellow at Halliburton's Pinnacle; and Lowell Catlett, dean of NMSU's College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.